FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



The process of buying a satisfactory horse is so 

 very simple that it is most extraordinary that no 

 one, or practically no one, follows it. If you 

 want a set of furniture you go to a store ; look 

 over the goods, ask the prices, select your arti- 

 cles, and pay for them ; you do the same thing 

 with all the necessaries and luxuries of life, save 

 and except when it comes to the purchase of a 

 horse. You do not insult the furniture dealer by 

 asking idiotic questions about things of which you 

 know nothing and he knows you know nothing ; if 

 he says that this wood is mahogany, and that bruise 

 came from an accident in unpacking, you accept 

 his statement ; you do not look at him with the 

 " icy eye of suspicion," as one who would say, 

 " Great Scott ! what a monumental liar is this ! " 

 nor, when he has named his price, do you offer 

 him fifty per cent thereof, and insinuate that he 

 is a scoundrel and a pirate for not jumping at it. 

 In short you "go shopping" for horses as you 

 do for no other commodity, and if you " get 

 stuck " you are, in nine cases out of ten, obtain- 

 ing your just deserts. 



If you want to buy a horse go to any dealer 

 you can't go wrong, general opinions to the con- 

 trary treat him like a man, and be sure he will 



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